Kansas, Nova, Virginia and the ESPN Hype Machine

[jibsey]

It's just been constant all year. These were their network coaching stars Self, Wright, and Bennett, the dream dies hard. So far the only one left out is Roy Williams and his program of term paperback writers.

 

[uconnsox23]

Serious question, when was the last time Kansas hasn't been a 1 or 2 seed? I tried to look it up and couldn't find any info on it but I feel like since Bill Self has been coach they are always a 1 or 2 seed and more often than not, lose in the first weekend.

 

[msgordon]

yep nothing says network star like tony bennett. ratings city

 

[msgordon]

Serious question, when was the last time Kansas hasn't been a 1 or 2 seed? I tried to look it up and couldn't find any info on it but I feel like since Bill Self has been coach they are always a 1 or 2 seed and more often than not, lose in the first weekend.

2009 they were a 3.

 

[B1GEast]

Serious question, when was the last time Kansas hasn't been a 1 or 2 seed? I tried to look it up and couldn't find any info on it but I feel like since Bill Self has been coach they are always a 1 or 2 seed and more often than not, lose in the first weekend.

good question, self has been exposed

 

[msgordon]

since im in a dick mood, where did you 'try to look it up'. wiki kansas basketball. took me literally 7 seconds total

 

[msgordon]

roy, K, cal, pitino are all bigger stars and advancing to the sweet 16. so did espn underhype them?????? or are they purposely not talking about it as part of a larger conspriacy against uconn? pls respond OP

 

[Scoe]

this tournament sucks

 

[superjohn]

Kansas is a 1 or 2 seed every year because they win the Big 12 every year and always have a gaudy record.

 

[whaler11]

It turns out beating a highly motivated WSU team is hard.

 

[Mr. French]

Your point is correct, but your reasoning is way, way off.

Those guys aren't the example of the NCAA / ESPN / fix situation.

 

[Husky1964]

Kansas never loses at home, so they are good for very few losses, don't play a lot of tough games always predicted in Oct to be good etc.

 

[huskiesNhoos]

Kansas was a mystery to me especially after the epic beat down by UK, but why wouldn't they hype nova and uva? 2 loss teams that steam rolled through their respective conferences.

Who should they have been hyping? Teams that are in the sweet 16? Unc looked like garbage up until the acc tourney (and reverted to garbage in the championship), WVU was up and down, msu is only not a surprise because of izzo, Wichita state was questioned all year because of sos, ucla was a joke for 3/4 of the season, etc

UK, duke, and Wisconsin are the only 3 teams that are doing what they're supposed to do right now. Arizona is too, but I don't think they've looked quite as dominant

 

[djct1999]

Ollie and Napier certainly got their fair share of positive hype after last year's run. I hate ESPN as much as the next yarder, but to say they hyped teams with 1 or 2 losses most of the season is absurd. I am fairly confident, that if UConn was 30-2, we would be hearing the same sort of buzz.

 

[Kitaman]

The news is that there is a new King in the state of Kansas, and it ain't the Jayhawks.

I didn't realize that Wichita State has been trying for decades to schedule games with them, and it took the Tournament to make it happen.

Lets see if the narrative now changes to give WSU the recognition and the in state Title they deserve.

 

[PcketknfNiels]

Well Nova isn't an ESPN darling because they don't even have TV rights to NBE games. That being said, I could be wrong because ESPN produces so much s.hitty content that every year any team is simultaneously one of the best and worst teams of all time.

 

[CallMeBruce]

Ollie and Napier certainly got their fair share of positive hype after last year's run. I hate ESPN as much as the next yarder, but to say they hyped teams with 1 or 2 losses most of the season is absurd. I am fairly confident, that if UConn was 30-2, we would be hearing the same sort of buzz.

Based on the fact that we've been one of those dominant teams before and gotten a ton of buzz out of it, I'd tend to agree with you.

 

[tzznandrew]

It turns out beating a highly motivated WSU team is hard.

It would be a sweet irony if they were the team to beat UK.

 

[Dooley]

Let's play a fun game. Rank the biggest paper tigers in college basketball:

1. Kansas
2. Syracuse
3. Arizona
4. The entire Big East conference
5. UCLA
6. Indiana
7. Virginia
8. The Big 12 conference
9. Other - Write In Nominations

 

[whaler11]

I don't get all the Virginia stuff. They had a ton of injuries. That makes them a paper tiger?

 

[Inyatkin]

Either Michigan State and Izzo are awesome or Virginia is a paper tiger. It can't be both.

 

[tzznandrew]

Let's play a fun game. Rank the biggest paper tigers in college basketball:

1. Kansas
2. Syracuse
3. Arizona
4. The entire Big East conference
5. UCLA
6. Indiana
7. Virginia
8. The Big 12 conference
9. Other - Write In Nominations

Why is Arizona a paper tiger?

In 2011 they were a 5 seed, destroyed Duke and lost in the E8.

In 2013 they made the S16 as a 6 seed.

In 2014 they were 1-seed who lost to a 2-seed on a controversial travel in the E8.

They've literally performed to seed or better every year Sean Miller has gotten them in the tournament. And this year, as a 2-seed, they're in the S16 playing 6-seed Xavier. My bet is they are back in E8.

 

[auror]

I posted a long thing in another topic and I'm not going to repeat all of it, but Self's teams consistently overachieve in the regular season (finish higher in final poll than pre-season poll), and thus always have a good seed. Therefore, when they get beat, it's a major upset. If they had been 5 or 6 seeds lower, where probably they deserved to be a few of the years they got upset, we wouldn't be having this conversation. It's all about how the narrative is framed by their seeding.

Honestly, we all knew they weren't a 2-seed this year. Anyone who didn't pick Wichita to beat them hasn't been watching this season. But they had a 2-seed's resume, because once again they overachieved this year. They won the Big 12 (the supposed best conference) with 10 freshmen and sophomores. Last year they lost Embiid to injury. And then 8 years ago they got upset twice in a row as high-ish seeds. In Self's other years they made 7 Sweet Sixteens.

UConn has a down year, we miss the tourny. Self's down years are a 2-seed getting beat in round of 64/32.

 

[Inyatkin]

Or maybe Bill Self is a great coach whose teams win 30 games in a down year and they lost to a really good, highly motivated Wichita State team. You know, the team that was in the Final Four two years ago and started 35-0 last season.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

Winning is hard in college basketball, which makes UConn's string of rings all the more impressive. People shouldn't expect that they're due for another one anytime soon because very good teams come up short every year. Doesn't mean they're chokers or paper tigers.